In-form Smith holds off Price to land Bahrain Masters

Michael Smith's golden run of form continued as he claimed glory at the inaugural Bahrain Darts Masters, defeating Gerwyn Price 8-6 in Friday's final.

The two-day tournament pitted eight PDC stars against eight Asian representatives, and while the locals were all defeated on the opening day, it was recently crowned world champion Smith who prevailed to scoop the £20,000 title and a third World Series triumph.

The success was also Smith's third televised title in as many months.

Smith had shone in his first round win over Abdulnasser Yusuf on Thursday, but had to come from 3-1 down to defeat Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-4 in the quarter-finals and was also behind early on in his semi-final with Raymond van Barneveld.

The world number one showed his quality to battle back for a 7-5 win, and then overcame Price in an entertaining final.

The pair shared the opening four legs - which included Price landing six perfect darts in leg three - before Smith broke for the first time to lead 3-2.

The next two legs also went with throw before Smith posted legs of 11 and 13 darts in a burst to surge into a 7-3 advantage.

Price fired in an 11-darter and punished missed match darts from Smith in leg 12 as he hit back to trail just 7-6, but he was unable to finish 97 to force a deciding leg which allowed his rival in to post double five and finally seal glory.

"I was far from perfect tonight but I've got to take my chances when they come," he said afterwards

"I thought it might not be my time but I dug deep and came back. Thankfully for me, Gez missed and I managed to hit the double five."